2022-2023 PLAYER & GOALIE OF THE WEEK #19

Labatts 3-Star Selection:
Star 1: CHI – Burakovsky 2G, 3Pts
Star 2: POR – Rakell 2G
Star 3: POR – Farabee 1G, 3 Pts

Game Winner: – Shea Theodore

Notables:
POR – None
CHI – Parayko 5 Block Shots, Sarros 30 Saves

But that will change the rest of the way, the 2nd period sees Charlotte’s SOG “dwindle” to 9 (to 8 for the Rangers) – but Skinner finally wakes up and stops all 9. And Strome gets one past Sorokin around the middle of the period and it’s 4-1 after 2.

Now the Buzzards are looking to feast on road kill – no more offense – shots down to 2 for the final 20 minutes while the Rangers comes alive and fire tons of shots, 16 of which are on goal. Well – Tavares gets a PP goal with 14 minutes to go. Then with 4 1/2 to go, Zibanejad gets a PP goal and it’s now a 1 goal game at 4-3. We head to the final minute, Rangers pull Skinner, and apply the pressure, but it’s Sorokin or a flying Buzzard blocking shots and the Charlotte hangs on for the 4-3 win. It was a long time from their 4th goal until they could celebrate, but celebration is what occurred for the Buzzards.

And they earned all 3 stars
1. Ovechkin 2 goals, 1 assist
2. Jahansen 1 goal, 2 assits
3. Danault 1 goal

The Rangers on the other hand only fired 20 shots on Hellebuyck – but 6 of them beat him! Hagel got 1 in the 1st. Kreider (2) and Zibandejad got the 3 in the 2nd. And then Zibanejad and Goodrow got the 2 in the 3rd for a nice big 6-2 win!

Needless to say, the Rangers garnered all 3 Stars for this game:
1. Kreider 2 goals 1 assist
2. Zibanejad 2 goals, 1 assist
3. Georgiev 41 saves (maybe he should have gotten #1)

Then with 6 seconds left in what had been a scoreless 2nd period, Zibanejad scores for Bathgate to tie it up, making the 3rd period as crucial as it could be.

Roslovic breaks the tie with a nifty goal 4 minutes in, but Kreider scores for the Rangers 4 minutes later on a PP to tie it back up at 3-3. Then 2 minutes later another Brentwood penalty gives Bathgate the advantage and Vrana capitalizes with his PP goal and the Rangers are up 4-3 with about 10 to go. But that pesky Pavelski ties it up with 3 1/2 to go and Francouz and Vasilevskiy keep it that way. In fact, neither of them yields in the OT!

So it’s on to the shoot-out.
Guentzel is stuff, Kreider is magnificent. Terry is stuffed, Panarin is magnificent. RANGERS WIN 5-4 SO!

STARS
1. BWB – Pavelski 2 goals, 1 assist
2. BGR – Zibanejad 1 goal
3. BGR – Kreider 1 goal

LA scores twice midway into the third and almost make a game of it. But after LA’s 4th line fails to convert 2 scoring chances shortly after the goals, Alamo heads the other way and a Glendening redirect makes it 5-2 Alamo with 8 minutes left – game over as LA pretty much packs it in after that.

An early penalty by the Walleye sees Chicago look to get back into the game, only to see Saad with a steal and breakaway shortie to make it 5-0. But instead of rolling over, the Cosa Nostra come back with their jets on. Larkin, Dubois, and Larkin again on the PP, and now its a slightly uneasy home crowd at the 2nd break, with the lead cut to 2, 5-3.

Toledo puts this one away early in the 3rd with an unheard of 3 goals in 27 seconds. Arvidsson twice and Saad. Makes it 8-3 Walleye, and thats how the game ends.

1st star – Arviddsson 2G 3pts
2nd – Saad 2G
3rd – Larkin 2G

Toledo grabs the lead with a goal from Trocheck. Then Raymond evens it a 2 for Grosse Pointe. Minutes later Pageau with a rare 4th line goal. 3-2 Toledo at intermission.

Robertson takes over in the 3rd, first on the PP, and then 3 minutes later, to make it 5-2 with 10 minutes to go. Morrissey cut the lead to 2 with 5 to go. Mangiapane bumps it to 6-3 just a minute later and that seems to settle it, as no more scoring. 6-3 Toledo.

1st star – Robertson 2G
2nd – Trocheck 1G 2pts
3rd – Kucherov 3A

Jason Robertson nets a pair of goals, including the game winner in the third.

California 4 Alamo 3

1-Huberdeau
2-Kane
3-Perry

Timo Meier scores late in the 2nd period to tie the score at 2, and then nets the game winner, his 27th of the season with 42 seconds left to lead the Bobcats. Connor McDavid adds an empty net goal to close out the scoring.

The Mob scores 3 straight to take a 4-3 lead but Kevin Hayes ties it at 12:42 of the 3rd and the Bobcats win the shoot out to earn the win. Chicago gets a participation point.

The game featured 92 shots, 54 by Gilbert, and both goaltenders had a very busy nigt

Portland was aided by 25 blocks and got goals from Farbee (12) in the 1st period and an emoty netter from Olofsson (17) to defeat the Bombers

Charlotte gets goals from Bennett (16) and Verhaeghe (15) in the 1st period. Bennett (17), Johansen (35) and Marchessault (15) and Ovechkin (33) in the 2nd period. Marner (23) adds the final goal in the 3rd period.

With the lopsided socre the game turned rough and saw 6 roughing penalties, 1 unsportsmanlke conduct penalty, and 3 fights in the game

Sorokin saves 30 shots and earns the shutout or Star #1

Robert Thomas for the Miners and Marchessault exchanged goals in the earlier part of the third period to keep the game tied at 5-5.

The fans got their entire money’s worth simply by staying around for the last minute of regulation. Norris (43 goals entering the week) put Pittsburgh ahead 6-5 on a power play goal assisted by Laine and Ryan Nugent Hopkins with 44 seconds in regulation. Ilya Sorokin exited the net and Charlotte won the ensuing faceoff – and just 15 seconds after Norris’ goal, Johansen dramatically tied the game for the hat trick and the 6-6 tie.

We seemed headed for overtime as 29 seconds remained in regulation following Johansen’s goal — but Danault had other ideas. With 11 seconds in the third left he beat Sergei Bobrovsky for the game winning goal following another faceoff win at center ice. The Buzzards pulled this game out of a hat, scoring twice in the last 29 seconds and winning 7-6 in arguably their most entertaining game of the year.

The Miners, with a solid four lines and lots of promise for the future, likely dominated this one in outshooting the Buzzards 38-33 only to lose a game late in heartbreaking fashion that they deserved to win. Losing those two center-ice faceoffs the last minute proved to be a crusher though (and Charlotte won the overall faceoff battle, 38-29).

Three stars
1. CHA Johansen hat trick and four points
2. CHA Marchessault two goals and three points
3. PIT Norris two goals and three points

Husso played solid through the first two periods assuring the Buzzards of a 2-2 tie entering the final 20 minutes. His opponent Cam Talbot, however, was even more brilliant, saving 31 in the first two periods, allowing just goals from Johansen and Alex Pietrangelo. Cincinnati’s special teams units accounted for both of its first two goals – Andrea Athanasiou on the power play and a shortie from defenseman extraordinaire Mackenzie Weegar.

The game stayed tied through most of the third. The Inferno who have dominated the Buzzards through the years (both in head to head play and in the division), seemed to also get the upper hand in this one, when with 3:24 left in regulation, Jake DeBrusk found the go-ahead goal on assists from Alex Tuch and Weegar, even strength. But for the second straight night the Buzzards found a tying goal in the last minute with the goalie pulled: this time it was Bryan Rust who forced overtime and knotted the score at 3-3 with 52 seconds remaining and Husso tempoarily on the bench.

The Inferno fired seven shots at Husso (versus Charlotte’s two at Talbot) in the three-on-three five minutes of overtime but no goals were converted and we were off to the shootout. Goals from the Inferno’s Filip Forsberg and Charlotte’s Alexander Ovechkin made it 1-1 early in the shootout but Mitch Marner found the net in the second round for Charlotte and Max Pacioretty and Evgeni Malkin missed for Cincinnati – ensuring the Buzzards of another key late season win, 4-2. Talbot and Husso were outstanding with 47 and 39 saves respectively.

Three stars:
1. CIN Weegar 1 G, 3 Pts
2. CHA Pietrangelo 1 G, 2 Pts
3. CIN Athanasiou 1 G